


Awkward Conversations

by ao_no_senshi



Category: Ultraman Gaia
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-08-09
Updated: 2011-08-09
Packaged: 2017-10-22 20:10:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,392
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/242072
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ao_no_senshi/pseuds/ao_no_senshi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Making assumptions can sometimes lead to misunderstanding situations altogether. It generally helps if the other person actually listens, though.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Awkward Conversations

Gamu hurried back to the investigation site, hoping Kajio-san wouldn't be back to look for him yet. It would be awkward trying to explain why he'd vanished without admitting he was Gaia and Team Lightning's leader was a very tenacious person, he didn't want to give him a reason to start asking questions he didn't really want to answer. Hopefully nobody had tried calling him on the Navi either, although that was less likely, because that would be just as difficult to explain.

He skidded around a corner, investigation site coming into view as he did so, and he was about to heave a sigh of relief at it still being empty when he spotted the XIG car parked next to where he'd left his equipment. A flash of blue out the corner of his eye turned out to be Kajio-san, looking around with a tightly controlled expression on his face. Gamu winced: that was not a good sign. He wondered how long the other man had been back and how likely it was that he'd be able to talk himself out of this. Kajio-san didn't appear to have seen him, however, because he flipped his Navi open sharply and that was when his own went off.

"Gamu, where the hell are you?" Kajio-san demanded before he could even get a word out.

"Um, I'm behind you," he replied, lifting a hand to wave as the pilot turned around, his tense expression relaxing when he saw him.

"Well, don't just stand there; get over here, already."

"That's what I was doing anyway," Gamu muttered. He didn't need to be told to do something so obvious.

"What was that?" Judging by the way Kajio-san's eyebrows had drawn together the other man had heard him perfectly and he wasn't going to push his luck by repeating himself.

"Nothing," he said hastily, closing his Navi before Kajio-san could say anything else, picking his way over the ramains of his investigation site.

Kajio-san was waiting none too patiently by his equipment, his arms folded, his fingers drumming against his biceps. "Where have you been?" were the first words out of his mouth. "I've been all over this place looking for you, where the hell were you?"

"Well," Gamu began, thinking rapidly, "there was that monster..." Fudging the truth wasn't something he was used to but he was getting a remarkable amount of practice in it just lately.

"Yeah, I figured you'd take cover somewhere," Kajio-san interrupted impatiently. "Went a bit far, though, don't you think? And why weren't you answering your Navi? Command's been trying to get hold of you since we... they realised the monster was so close."

"I didn't hear it," he replied with perfect truth. "It was really loud. Sorry."

"That's never been a problem before." Kajio-san gave him a sharp look and Gamu projected innocence as hard as he could: if Kajio-san started getting suspicious it could cause as many problems as it would potentially solve and that was an issue he wanted to put off dealing with for now. The pilot's eyes narrowed suddenly and Gamu tensed, hoping the other man hadn't just worked something out. Instead, Kajio-san reached out and brushed his bangs out of his face, hissing sharply as he ran his fingers gently over Gamu's left temple.

"Ow!" Gamu flinched, batting the intruding fingers away. That _stung_. When had that happened, anyway?

"Sorry," Kajio-san said, reaching out again to get a better look but carefully avoiding the injured area. "That explains a lot. I guess you didn't realise you'd done that?"

"No," Gamu admitted, lifting a hand to assess the damage for himself. It had to have happened during the fight, but he hadn't noticed at the time.

"The Commander's going to have my head for this," Kajio-san sighed. "And the Chief."

Gamu stared at him blankly. "What? Why?"

"In case it escaped your attention, Gamu, you're a civilian. I'm supposed to keep an eye on you, make sure stuff like this _doesn't_ happen."

"They're the ones who called you away," Gamu pointed out. "It's not your fault. And besides," he added, "I don't need anyone to look after me." He was twenty years old, for crying out loud. _And_ he had a PhD in quantum physics. He didn't need a babysitter every time he went off base, no matter how attractive said babysitter was today, or how nice he smelled when they were standing this close.

"Say that again when you _don't_ have a gash on your head," Kajio-san suggested dryly. "Your boyfriend's probably going to be pissy about that as well when you get home."

For the first time in quite a few years, Gamu's mind stuttered to a complete stop. "B-Boyfriend?" What... who... _how_...?

Kajio-san frowned, giving him that sharp look again. "Yeah, you know, the one you live with? Mikoto or something, I think his name was?"

Gamu stared at him in utter bewilderment. Why would Kajio-san think Makoto was his boyfriend? Wouldn't most people just assume room-mates? And how did he even _know_ about... Oh, of course, the night there'd been that emergency and Kajio-san had had to come get him.

"Okay, get in the car," Kajio-san said firmly, putting a hand on his shoulder and giving him a gentle but insistent push in the direction of said car. "There's a GUARD medical facility not that far from here, we can get you checked out there."

Gamu stopped abruptly. "But I don't need..."

"Don't argue with me, Gamu. How many fingers am I holding up?"

"Three. Kajio-san, really, I don't need..."

"Car, Gamu. _Now_. Don't even try telling me you're not concussed when you can't even remember who your boyfriend is."

"But he's not..."

Kajio-san scowled at him and Gamu sighed, barely resisting the urge to stomp over to the car. It was clearly futile trying to argue with Kajio-san about this: he simply wasn't listening. "What about my equipment?"

"Geo Base will pick it up. Stop stalling, Gamu; get in the damn car."

"I'm not concussed," he tried again as Kajio-san slid into the driver's seat.

"Uh huh."

"I'm really not."

"We'll see. When's your birthday? And fasten your seatbelt, already."

"June fourth," Gamu replied promptly and Kajio-san huffed in what sounded like annoyance at the easy answer, turning the key in the ignition a little a more forcefully than Gamu thought was really necessary. "Why, when's yours?"

"January," came the automatic reply and Gamu grinned in triumph as Kajio-san scowled at him, stamping his foot down on the pedal to get the car moving. It was the first bit of personal information the man had volunteered about himself, even if it _had_ been a reflexive answer instead of an intentional one and Gamu would take the small victories where he could get them.

***

"I told you I wasn't concussed."

"Hmmmm."

Gamu sighed as they got back in the car. His head had been patched up and he'd been given a clean bill of health otherwise but Kajio-san didn't seem altogether convinced. "Can we go back and get my equipment now?"

"I told you, the Geo Base will get it. They'll send it back, don't worry about it."

Gamu slumped back in his seat with a scowl. It wasn't that he didn't have enough projects to be going on with _anyway_ but Ishimuro-san had wanted those results.

"Alright, fine," Kajio-san said in exasperation. "We'll go back. Don't pout like that, jeez."

Gamu brightened, sitting upright again. "Thank you, Kajio-san."

Kajio-san muttered something under his breath as he turned the car around. "When the Chief wants to know why we're late back, I'm blaming you."

Knowing he would do no such thing, Gamu just beamed. "Thank you, anyway. Um, Kajio-san, about Makoto..."

"You don't have to explain anything, Gamu," Kajio-san interrupted. Again. Really, this was getting ridiculous. What did it take to finish a sentence today? "Who you date is your business, not mine or anyone else's."

"Yes, but..."

"Look, personally I don't care but make sure you keep it to yourself around base, okay? Some of the guys might not take it too well."

"But..." Gamu sighed again and decided to drop it for now. Kajio-san wasn't listening and there was no point in wasting his breath, even if he _was_ the last person he wanted thinking he was seeing someone. "Fine."

  



End file.
